Only Moonlight Shows the Truth
by olive62
Summary: It only takes a moment to forget a potion, and a moment to take a life...
I waited until the sounds of his footsteps faded, and then mentally allowed myself to have a moment before I could actually think about what happened. I pressed my hands to my cheeks, and I wasn't surprised to find them warm. Closing my eyes, I rested the back of my head against the cool, stonewalls of the outer hallways of Hogwarts, trying not to grin like an idiot and allow myself to enjoy what just happened too much.

 _A flurry of giggles escaped my mouth before I could stop myself, and he turned and looked at me._

" _What?" he asked, his ever present smirk plastered on his face. "What?"_

" _You're just…such…. an idiot!" I barely managed out before bursting into laughter again._

" _What did I do?"_

"I'm soon not going to have enough room on my robes for all these badges I'm collecting!" _I mocked. "How does that_ not _make you sound like an idiot!"_

" _Ok, fine, maybe that was a little…." He paused, looking for the word._

" _Egotistical?" I supplied._

" _Well…maybe."_

 _I shut my mouth and tried not to laugh as hard as humanly possible. He stared down at me. "What?"_

 _I couldn't hold it any longer. I burst out laughing and he did too._

" _Maybe?" I exclaimed, "Maybe?"_

 _We both stopped laughing and he shook his head. "You know Evans-" he stopped and I looked up at him._

" _What?"_

" _You're doing it again." He murmured. "When you're trying not to laugh." He was staring down at me and my stupid redheaded genes had to make me blush. "What are you talking about?" I asked._

" _That thing… with your mouth."_

 _We both stared at each other a moment longer. Quite a bit longer. One of the paintings on the wall not so subtly coughed. We looked away and I blushed again._

" _Um…" I started to say. I looked down at my watch. "Oh! Patrolling's over. I guess we're done then."_

" _Yeah." He said back. And then me, being the awkward teenager that I am, broke the silence by looking outside and saying "Full moon tonight."_

" _Full moon." He agreed. "Full moon. I gotta get back. Sorry Lil's."_

" _What? Why?" I asked. Why couldn't we just back together, we lived in the same building?_

" _I'm late for something." He said hurriedly, already backpedaling away. "I'll see you tomorrow!" and left at a run._

"Do I do something with my mouth when I'm trying not to laugh?" I wondered aloud, making my own way back to Gryffindor tower.

The breeze pushing through the trees was inviting, and felt nice against the warm feeling steadily pulsing in my stomach. I started to walk towards the green houses, when I noticed someone walking up the path from Hagrid's hut. Who else would be out at this time?

As they approached I subconsciously pressed my back closer to the glass greenhouse walls when the thought of meeting one of the Slytherin's alone, at night entered my imagination. And the fact of me being a muggleborn made it that much worse.

They passed my hiding spot and I finally got a good look them. It was Remus. I let out an audible sigh of relief and he started at the noise.

"Lily?"

"Yeah, what are you doing out here?" I asked, coming out of my hiding spot.

"More like what are you doing hiding in front of the Greenhouses in the middle of the night?"

"Oh, that. I thought you were a Slytherin, sorry. And I had to patrol with James." I answered and we started walking together back towards the entrance to the castle. When he didn't make any sign of answering my first question, I tried again.

"So what were you doing out here?"

"Oh, I was just visiting Hagrid." He said nonchalantly.

"Just, decided to take a stroll after hours in the middle of the night?" I asked, mirroring his tone.

"Well, he just wanted a favor." He said. Oh, I know what this was about. He must have been coming back from _visiting his Grandmother_ again and then…. My train of thought stopped with the thud of realization. I stopped moving and pulled my arm out of his.

"What's wrong?" he asked gently. I swallowed and looked up at the sky. There was a thick layer of clouds, but I didn't know if that did anything. And the wind had started to pick up, meaning they could blow away at any second. I swallowed again and said "Remus… the sky.

"What about it?"

I licked my lips and started walking again. "Remus, the clouds could blow away any second. We need to hurry."

"Lily, what the hell is going on?"

"It's a full moon!" I blurted out and started pulling him with me.

He took his arm out of my grasp and turned me around. "Full moon, why do you keep on say-"

He took a deep breath and looked up at the sky. His normally pale skin seemed paler suddenly, and the shadows under his eyes and cheekbones seemed darker in the moonlight.

Moonlight.

The clouds had blown away and the moon glared down at me when I stared at it, and it's normally soft glow turned harsh and cold.

"Run…" sounded a strangled whisper. Remus's skin had turned waxy, and beads of sweat stood out on his forehead. "Get Sirius…. Run… Time…" His face relaxed and his mouth hung open and he started making gagging noises. He slumped down to his knees, and then on to his chest and starting twitching.

Terror, hard terror gripped me in place. I couldn't move. Remus's hand twitched jerkily near my foot, and I recoiled away from it violently, straining my neck. My breaths were shallow and irregular. A low moan came from his body, and I choked out a breathy sob.

Then I ran.

I never looked back and the only sound I heard was the dull slap of my feet hitting the cold winter earth. I had no idea where I was going, and I wanted to stop but the same fear that had gripped me in place before was now screaming me to get away. Far, far, away.

I was now up the hill that led to the west entrance, and I couldn't run any further. I had never been around this bit of the grounds, and I had nowhere to hide. I saw the west entrance doors and sprinted toward them, but a thick padlock held the handles together. I pulled out my wand and said firmly at the door " _Alohamora!"_

Nothing changed. " _Alohamora!_ " I said again, now a hint of panic laced with my voice. I kept whipping my head around, convinced that every time I turned to the door, Remus would be there and I wouldn't know.

" _Reducto!"_

" _Diffendo!"_

" _Bombarda!"_

Nothing would work. The padlock stayed exactly where it was, with no damage whatsoever on it. An eerie (hopefully human) wail split the air. I knew it was from Remus. I instantly thought of how different it was from the howls in all in the werewolf movies. I picked up my wand from where I had dropped it in the floor, and took slow, deliberate footsteps toward the peak of the hill. A form stood at the bottom, just before the ground started to rise, and looked up at me.

It was disgusting, and horrifying, and not human. I couldn't tear my eyes from it. It was so not right, so out of place that my eyes squinted against my will, trying to make the picture before me go away. It was pale, and grotesque and had a fine layer of silvery-brown hair covering every inch of it. It's limbs were those of a dogs, and had flesh toned paws. Its legs were longer than it's arms so it was always leaning forward when it moved. It was sniffing the ground, it's ears moving and twitching to the slightest noise, and I was afraid to move. Even my eyeballs stopped moving. Then the most horrifying moment in my entire life unfolded.

The werewolf looked up at me…and grinned. And then started racing up the hill.

My breaths faltered and then stopped. My heart silenced. My brain numbed. I felt sick. I couldn't process this. I started stumbling backwards until the doors hit the back of my head and my body followed. I was probably going to die. I would cease to exist. No more Lily. No more Lily Evans. Panic entered my system, I couldn't die, no I needed more time, and I haven't done enough. I am loved; I love other people, I cant- I can't be over. Remus appeared over the top of the slope, but this wasn't Remus. His eyes were completely black, and he was breathing audibly and painfully. He had bits of cloth pulled taut over his enlarged form, and I could see the blue of his veins inside his translucent stretched skin.

A whimper escaped me, buzzing at my lips. I didn't want to die, not like this, not anytime soon. I started crying as the animal started slowly advancing toward me.

"Remus." I whispered. Nothing. There was no recognition in his wild eyes, no shred of humanity in his gaze. I didn't want to accept my fate, but in the end, you always have to. The creature was growling, a low growl that made the hairs on my arms and the back of my neck stand up, and it neared closer and closer. My tears stopped. I stopped breathing, and stared up into the feral eyes that were almost level with mine.

Suddenly there was a whoosh of air and the werewolf lurched sideways and tumbled to the ground, a black dog tearing at its side. I fell to my knees gasping for air, and my wand came into view out of the corner of my eye and I reached for it, only to have a rat run over my hand. I was too exhausted to even react, so I picked up my wand and got to my feet. The black dog was fighting Remus alongside a…stag or a moose, or something, but they both looked so familiar. But this couldn't even be happening, a stag and a dog fighting a werewolf that also happened to be my friend in a school that teaches magic with fairy wands in the English countryside. So why couldn't they be familiar? The stag and the dog were half herding, half leading the werewolf towards the Whomping Willow, which I knew wasn't a good idea, when I felt a tug on my shoelace. The rat (Which was much bigger than I first thought it was) was sitting on my shoe and I flinched. It tugged on the loop of my shoelace again towards the other side of the castle, and I understood. (Yes, you heard correctly I understood a rat, I was kind of stressed out, and I probably shouldn't really be thinking about this experience as if it wasn't happening, but that's not relevant.) I had to get out of here. The rat darted away from me and looked back to check if I was following. A bubble of laughter rose up in my throat, and my shoulders shook. Keep the hysterics to a minimum Lil, I reminded myself and jogged a little bit to keep up with the rat. Tears started running down my face when I walked, but I wasn't crying. No sniffles, sobs or shaking shoulders.

Just salty water.

We rounded a bend of the castle when the werewolf appeared from out the next corner, and started sprinting towards us. The rat was gone and I was alone. The werewolf kept approaching me and I pulled out my wand. The stag jumped in front of the werewolf, but Remus merely brushed the animal aside, slamming it into the wall with a crack. It kept approaching.

" _Stupefy!"_ I yelled. The werewolf just looked dazed for a moment and then started moving again.

" _Immobulus!"_ still nothing.

" _Impedimenta!"_ this one actually bounced off Remus, and took a chunk out of the wall behind me.

Flustered and panicked, I yelled the only thing I could think of " _Expelliarmus!"_

This time when I said the spell another voice had joined mine. The werewolf rocketed backwards and hit a tree, and didn't move. Sirius Black fell to his knees and Peter Pettigrew rushed to Sirius.

"What the bloody hell are you two doing here!" I screamed. "How did you even get here? I have just been on the verge of dying, been seeing animals fighting my best friend in werewolf form, and then you two show up and start simultaneously yelling spells at werewolves with me!"

They payed no attention to me and continued to help each other up and walk over to me.

"Are you alright?" Sirius asked, a little breathless. My mouth fell open. Was I okay? I thought I was going to die! A stream of outraged noises flowed from my open mouth and I had to stop to breathe.

"No. I'm not okay." I said shakily.

"I mean bodily harm. Did Remus hurt you?"

"I don't- I don't think so. Can you please explain to me what's going on? How do you know about Remus?" I asked and a flash of pale blue light made me turn. Peter was pointing his wand at the fallen stag and it was slowly turning into…James Potter? I closed my eyes and sighed.

"What. The. Hell." I said through gritted teeth. I was so surprised at my reactions to all of this. I was just pissed off. Before this I was crying, and half couldn't stand, but I was also on the verge of death, so I don't know. It seemed to me that James was an Animagus, that tried to protect me from Remus, and Sirius and Peter were just here. I put my face in my hands and leaned against the stone walls, just like I had done earlier today. That seemed like a year ago.

"Did we kill him?" I asked suddenly, looking up from my hands.

"Who, Remus? Nah, he'll be fine. We haven't used wands on him in a while though." Peter said back to me.

"You used the disarming spell at the same time Sirius and I did?"

"Yeah. That was enough to knock him out." He said and we both looked over at his unconscious form. He still looked like a werewolf, with the claws and ears and legs, but I wasn't so scared of him now that he was sleeping. How could they let something like that anywhere near the students? He could have killed me in a second if he wasn't so…relishing. He's a monster. I then was so shocked at my own thoughts that I nearly fell over. That was not Remus. Remus is kind, and caring and loveable, and was my friend before he was anyone else's. He was not this sleeping monster before me. Sirius had walked over to us again and pulled me away.

"You should probably go back-" he started but I cut him off.

"No! I want to understand. Are you all Animagus, or is that just James?" I asked.

"You're a smart cookie then…" he mumbled under his breath and James finally spoke.

"She has a right to know Padfoot." He coughed and sat up.

"Fine. You might want to sit down for this though."

Little did I know, that this was the first day of the rest of my life.


End file.
